From Publishers Weekly
When his wife walks out on him, novelist Cohen (Red Hook) is stunned: "I didn't call out, didn't follow her to the door, I just lay down on the couch... as if I was settling into the coffin of our marriage." How he gets through the subsequent weeks and months provides the focus for this philosophical self-help. Cohen isn't trying to convert anyone, just passing along the key Buddhist principles he gleaned from a few lectures and applied to his own situation. Sound advice and short chapters fill his narrative of recovery, unadorned by bullet-pointed lists, side-bars or "get-enlightened-quick schemes," which should do much to engage readers and keep them that way. Subjects like anger management, self-pity and substance abuse lead Cohen to the heart of Buddhism, the Four Noble Truths that promise an end to suffering for anyone: "Our sadness and happiness and anger... come only from within," meaning that control over them can and must also come from within. Encouraging and accessible throughout, Cohen's book will make a useful tool for readers going through a difficult break-up.
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Book Description
Personal, practical, down-to-earth--and the first book on the subject of using Buddhist insights to heal the anger and grief of romantic break-ups.
Buddhism has been applied to everything from parenting to golf, but until now no one has offered Buddhist principles as a healing path through divorce. In Storms Can't Hurt the Sky, Gabriel Cohen bravely delves into his personal experience--along with insights from Buddhist masters, parables, humor, social science studies, and interviews with other divorcés--to provide a practical and very helpful guide to surviving the pain of any break-up. Focusing on the emotions most common in the dissolution of a relationship--anger, resentment, loss, and grief--Storms Can't Hurt the Sky shows how thinking about these feelings in surprisingly different ways can lead to a radically better experience. This compulsively readable book offers sound advice and much-needed empathy for anyone dealing with a break-up.
About the author
Gabriel Cohen has written for the
New York Times and
Time Out New York and has taught writing at NYU. The author of three novels, he lives in Brooklyn, New York.
